Last Modified: Friday, April 19, 2013 at 9:25 p.m.

LSU's Brent Bonvillain has emerged as a stellar pitcher for the Tigers.

LSU Sports Information

BATON ROUGE — For the first time since Brent Bonvillain graduated from Thibodaux High School in 2009, the LSU pitcher is playing baseball at the same school for the second straight year.

Bonvillain is playing for his third school in four years, but he is finally settling in.

But now on a team full of top prospects while they were in high school, Bonvillain is anything but the norm. Bonvillain said he was throwing in the low-to-mid 80s during his senior year of high school and was planning on entering the workforce rather than playing college baseball. Nicholls State University, the school at which Bonvillain's father is a professor, began to show interest in the younger Bonvillain late in the process, though.

"They were the only school that was looking at me at the time," Bonvillain said. "It was very enticing to go there because they were right in my backyard, I grew up watching Nicholls baseball, and my dad works there."

Despite the promising prospect of a career at Nicholls, things didn't go as planned, and by the 2011 season, Bonvillain was practicing his trade at Delgado Community College in New Orleans.

Bonvillain said while he was happy to have on opportunity to continue playing, he was determined to end his career at a university rather than a junior college. His determination paid off when he caught the eye of LSU coach Paul Mainieri.

"All I know is when we saw him at Delgado in his sophomore year, we liked what we saw," Mainieri said. "His coach gave him very glowing reports, so we ended up recruiting him."

It was another year, another school for Bonvillain, who said it's not easy to move from school to school, but he contributed nicely for the Tigers last season.

"It's frightening going to a new school right off the bat," he said. "You'll prove yourself or you won't, one of the two."

Bonvillain got his chance as a reliever, finishing the 2012 season with a 4-0 record and 3.49 earned run average with 26 strikeouts in 28.1 innings.

This season, Bonvillain lowered his ERA to 1.67 and currently holds a 2-0 record heading into this weekend's series against Alabama.

Mainieri pointed to Bonvillain's performance in the Tigers' 6-5 win against Missouri, when the lefty pitched 4 1/3 innings without giving up a hit to lead LSU to victory.

Bonvillain said he hopes to have a chance at the professional ranks after this season, but said if not, he'd like to finish his last year of school and graduate. Eventually, he said he would like to try his hand at coaching in his hometown.

"I'd love to give something back to the community, just bring back some of that knowledge and get the fire fueled over there in Thibodaux," he said.

<p>BATON ROUGE — For the first time since Brent Bonvillain graduated from Thibodaux High School in 2009, the LSU pitcher is playing baseball at the same school for the second straight year.</p><!-- Nothing to do. The paragraph has already been output --><p>BATON ROUGE — For the first time since Brent Bonvillain graduated from Thibodaux High School in 2009, the LSU pitcher is playing baseball at the same school for the second straight year. </p><p>Bonvillain is playing for his third school in four years, but he is finally settling in.</p><p>But now on a team full of top prospects while they were in high school, Bonvillain is anything but the norm. Bonvillain said he was throwing in the low-to-mid 80s during his senior year of high school and was planning on entering the workforce rather than playing college baseball. Nicholls State University, the school at which Bonvillain's father is a professor, began to show interest in the younger Bonvillain late in the process, though.</p><p>"They were the only school that was looking at me at the time," Bonvillain said. "It was very enticing to go there because they were right in my backyard, I grew up watching Nicholls baseball, and my dad works there."</p><p>Despite the promising prospect of a career at Nicholls, things didn't go as planned, and by the 2011 season, Bonvillain was practicing his trade at Delgado Community College in New Orleans. </p><p>Bonvillain said while he was happy to have on opportunity to continue playing, he was determined to end his career at a university rather than a junior college. His determination paid off when he caught the eye of LSU coach Paul Mainieri. </p><p>"All I know is when we saw him at Delgado in his sophomore year, we liked what we saw," Mainieri said. "His coach gave him very glowing reports, so we ended up recruiting him."</p><p>It was another year, another school for Bonvillain, who said it's not easy to move from school to school, but he contributed nicely for the Tigers last season.</p><p>"It's frightening going to a new school right off the bat," he said. "You'll prove yourself or you won't, one of the two."</p><p>Bonvillain got his chance as a reliever, finishing the 2012 season with a 4-0 record and 3.49 earned run average with 26 strikeouts in 28.1 innings.</p><p>This season, Bonvillain lowered his ERA to 1.67 and currently holds a 2-0 record heading into this weekend's series against Alabama.</p><p>He had his fourth start of the season on Wednesday against Grambling. </p><p>"He's hitting his stride now," Mainieri said. "The last couple times he's pitched, he's looked pretty good." </p><p>Mainieri pointed to Bonvillain's performance in the Tigers' 6-5 win against Missouri, when the lefty pitched 4 1/3 innings without giving up a hit to lead LSU to victory.</p><p>Bonvillain said he hopes to have a chance at the professional ranks after this season, but said if not, he'd like to finish his last year of school and graduate. Eventually, he said he would like to try his hand at coaching in his hometown. </p><p>"I'd love to give something back to the community, just bring back some of that knowledge and get the fire fueled over there in Thibodaux," he said.</p>